Sixteen Candles
by White Silver and Mercury
Summary: Sora's sixteenth birthday is coming up on the night of the back-to-school dance. He'd almost forgotten. That's not so bad...until the sex quiz he flippantly took gets lost, and he's been having these weird feelings lately... - RikuSo, postKH2, PARODY.
1. Chapter One

_**Sixteen Candles**_

**_Disclaimers_: Kingdom Hearts and the rest of the amazing franchise © Disney and Square Enix; everything else © their rightful owners.**

**_A/N_: Um. Yeah, so I just pulled this one out of my ass. -laugh.- You can thank Family Guy, ennui, and Vanilla Coke for this, as well as my deranged humor. **

**If you haven't seen _Sixteen Candles_ (Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling, etc), then this may not be as much of the comedy genre for you, but if you've got an understanding of the movie, I hope you chuckle at least once while reading. Don't you know we all love the '80's! Now, I have only seen a few scenes of the movie, but this is merely a parody. **

**Am I really writing this?**

**Yes. I am. -evil grin.-**

**Set after the end of the second game, on Destiny Islands. C'mon, you didn't think that Sora would stop attending _school_, did you?**

**ATTENTION _NOSTER NOSTRI _READERS: This, in no way whatsoever, means that I am forgetting that story. Keep looking for updates; they'll arrive soon. _Noster Nostri _will definitely be finished. **

**_Overall Ratings/Warnings_: M—profanity, explicit content, RikuSo**

**_Ratings/Warnings for this chapter_: T—profanity**

* * *

"**Turning sixteen isn't easy when you realize that you've fallen in love. It's the time of your life that will last a lifetime."**

* * *

_Sixteen Candles—Chapter One_

* * *

The worlds were at a balance...

It was at school lunch on Monday, the third week classes were back in session, a full month and a half since they had returned, that it hit him. His mind was marqueeing contemplations of the journey he'd just completed, how restless he now felt with nothing so _urgent _occupying his heart besides mundane things such as breakfast, school, lunch, sports, attractions, dinner, friends, homework, midnight snack, then bed, when the noon broadcast by the student council echoed tinnily through the hallways, reminding the student body that the back-to-school dance was coming up on Friday, September 1.

Sora's eyes widened and his hand fell from cradling his chin, both palms slapping the lunch-table sharply, a breathless, "Oh my _God_!" trickling from his lower lip_. _His peers around him, including but not limited to a certain Riku and Kairi, regarded him with curio not entirely incredulous. The brunette was an eccentric guy, and one had to be very accustomed to his spastic antics and charismatic portrayal of emotions, but the abrupt explosions never failed to catch one off guard.

"What's the matter?" Selphie piped up first, blinking in a rather empty fashion.

"I just realized something!" Sora cried emphatically, brows furrowing on panicked blue irises. "I...um..." Well, he couldn't share with everyone that he had just remembered that he _didn't_ remember something—that would be a little awkward and only two people would understand that was quite possible. But his friends were gawking at him, stares pressuring for the explanation of his sudden outburst. "Uh—I just realized that I...don't have any plans for the dance."

September 1. That was his birthday.

And he just realized that he didn't remember his fifteenth birthday.

Had he slept through it...?

The night of the dance was his sixteenth birthday, that magically special night for any adolescent, dreamy or pessimistic it mattered not, and he, himself, had almost forgotten.

"What are you talking about?" Tidus grunted, ripping a rather large hunk of his sandwich off with clamped jaws.

"The dance," Sora insisted with a concern rather noncommittal for his previously aghast cry to higher powers, hunching down on the bench and feeling somewhat stupid. Cowed beneath their heavy gazes of skepticism, he ducked his head a little, brows furrowing and lips puckering as his features passed into a vicious pout. "The dance...you know, on Friday."

"The one they just announced?" Riku breathed with offhanded excitement, a beautifully played card of sarcasm.

"Yes," Sora hissed, skidding his tray to the left to allow his elbows more room upon the tabletop.

"Are you worried you won't have anyone to go with?" Kairi inquired, her chin propped in her palm and her painted nails dancing idly on the apple of her cheek. She peered at him with optics warm and assuring, a smile curling at her glossed lips; Sora blinked, oblivious to the girlishly sly teasing that hid in her glib comfort, and opened his mouth to respond but was cut off as Tidus erupted into laughter, snorting his drink onto his own knuckles.

"Sora, you're worried about a _date_?" he squalled incredulously, brows risen and a crooked grin breaking on his face as he mopped up the juice with a napkin expertly stolen from the brunette's tray, conveniently close.

"_I just don't know what I'm going to do_," the brunette denied in a howl, landing as many blows on Tidus's blonde mop of a head as he could, fists flailing as he snarled dramatically. The boy under assault laughed, arms hooked over his cranium to absorb the impacts, but the last one sent to the back of his skull shot his visage forward, jaw cracking on the edge of the table.

"Ow," he mumbled, clasping a hand over his mouth and scowling darkly. Sora settled back into his own spot victoriously, slumping onto the table again. A glower written all over his face, he flicked a troubled azure gaze up and abruptly met it with sea-green irises locked onto him. Almost jumping, the brunette blinked rapidly as his glare only deepened; it was so typical of Riku to get amusement out of his innocent humiliation. There he sat, gawking with a bland expression, lips tilted in a hidden smile, but his eyes read utter delight and indulgence. Their intensity, piercing through those silver wisps, made a shiver snake down Sora's spine and he immediately whipped his head around, peering out over the busy lunchroom.

But the stare was still upon him, heated and luscious. He couldn't deny that. It questioned his integrity, questioned his ambitions: was he really worried about that petty dance? That pathetic bash where high schoolers would spend gorges of money on clothes, rides, and dinners, only to get drunk or high, date raped or jumped, pregnant or embarrassed?

"What exactly are you freaking out about?" Kairi was talking again, lacing her fingers and threading them absently together, bracelets jangling together and her variety rings causing hindrance against her moving knuckles. She was infamous for over-accessorizing, and they acted as if cat-bells, announcing her presence even before she did so herself.

"I don't know," Sora returned as the intercom overhead blasted the deafening, portentous bell, signaling the end of break and the beginning of more daydream-inducing lessons. Math class was beckoning to him with the facade of a fun time, and he stood, grabbing his tray to dump it on his way down the hall. The good-byes were called and Wakka, barely noticed at the other end of the table in his own world of iPod ear-buds and protein shakes, trailed off with Selphie, Tidus trotted away shouting for the attention of classmates across the cafeteria, and Kairi drifted along behind Sora quietly, her bag delicately hooked on her shoulders. The brunette boy paused at the end of the table, glancing over his shoulder. "What about—"

Riku was already gone.

Sora frowned, but Kairi brought his attention back to earth, taking his wrist and tugging him along to the trash bin and eventually the window where the trays were slid in to wash. Blinking, startled and confused as to the emotions blooming within his chest, the boy stumbled after her, but came to a screeching halt when his friend cried out in absolute, blameworthy devastation:

"Sora, I lost the quiz!"

"_What_?" he choked out, eyes widening and his tray clattering to the floor. "You 'lost' it?_ Lost_ it?"

"Yes," Kairi whispered tremulously as she hung her head in shame, hands clutched together nervously at her stomach, the edge of her tie dusting against her thumbs. Sora gawked at her, suddenly feeling way too hot even though he had chills, and his stomach was pinching up—was he going to view that hot dog again, this time in the form of chunky bile? Light headed, swallowing on a throat Sahari-dry, the brunette lifted his digits and cradled his temple, free hand propped on his hip. Unaware of his frantically effeminate stance even as Kairi scrutinized it up and down, he attempted not to panic and reiterated as smoothly as he possibly could—though it was rather rocky, now and then interrupted by a mortified squeak:

"You lost the quiz."

"I'm so sorry," Kairi cried, clasping her hands in front of her face now, turning a pleading grimace up to him, her normally bubbly eyes welling up with apologetic, rueful tears. "I'm so sorry, Sora! I didn't mean to! Please forgive me—"

"Ahh, Kairi..." Lips bit together in a sheepish frown, he grasped her bare forearms, pulling her fist down and trying to ease her crying. He hated to see her cry; it brought back memories he longed to stifle, feelings of blame he knew were wrong but still tried to eat at his conscience, plucking at his heartstrings ruthlessly. "Really, it's not that bad. It's alright. It's not the end of the world."

"That's not funny at all."

"I'm not _trying_ to be funny...!"

"See, you _are_ freaking out!"

"You're making me freak out!"

"Ohh, I'm so, so, _so_ sorry Sora!"

"Would you please calm down? We're going to be—"

His sentence was finished by the mocking buzz of the second bell resounding throughout the halls and the authoritative wave of a council member with lunch-duty, about to blow the whistle on the pair by the lunch windows and jot them down for a demerit. Sora crouched down, heaving a frustrated sigh as he picked up the dropped tray. Kairi hovered above him, her plaid skirt dancing on her thighs as she hopped from foot to foot anxiously.

"I'm sor—"

"Go to class, Kairi," Sora forced a chuckle, offering a grin as he climbed back to his feet. His sloppy smile reassured her as he'd expected, and she fidgeted before waving hastily and jogging down the hall, clutching the straps of her backpack to keep it on her shoulders as she ran. The boy slid his dirty tray beneath the window, tipping a flick of the wrist at the woman behind the counter, and he took his time making it back to class. He had two more demerits until it equaled a detention, and this tardy would subtract that into one, but it was still a zone of safety. He didn't really mind detentions or demerits; after all the lunch-hours spent in the detention hall over the years, they were a period of innocuous, impish fun for him—especially when there was someone he knew in the room, such as the regular Tidus, or that one incident when he and Riku had gotten into a scuffle in the hallways and _both_ had been given immediate detention slips. Riku had hated him for a week because of the trouble it got him into at home—information he stubbornly denied Sora no matter how much Sora begged to know—and then they were back to normal. He had been in fourth grade, Riku in fifth.

Recalling those innocent, carefree days as he trudged, ever so slowly, his eyes were wide and frantic, chest rolling with breathless respirations, and in his boyish chastity, he really did feel like the world was ending. Again.

* * *

"_What? Sora? He's my best friend."_

_"Best friends are romantic!"_

_"I don't think he's into me like th—"_

_"I bet he likes _me_."_

_All eyes fell on Selphie and she smiled brightly, though not without a shadow of acidic, girlish iniquity. Kairi eyed her suspiciously, before questioning coolly, "How do you figure that?"_

_"Well," the brunette girl tilted her head to the side dreamily, "boys are dumb. They treat the girls they like really badly, teasing and yelling and just being mean to them. So he must really like me, hunh?"_

_The other girls laughed in agreement—Kairi threw back her head and laughed because she knew the truth. The days back on the island just stabilized the fact even more. Hooking her arms over her chest, she cocked a hip to the side, casting a rather incredulous look at the girl with the ridiculously flipped-up hair. She couldn't help that her gaze was completely condescending; she knew Sora better than anyone else—except Riku, and she was fine with that—and she wasn't going to keep that a secret. Especially not when it was a war against a high school bitch._

_"Sora is different from other boys," Kairi had explained to them, close to tapping her foot in exasperation. These girls really were dimwits—she could comprehend now why Sora and Riku had been so reluctant to welcome her into their private friendship. Deep down, she hoped they didn't see her like such dumbasses. _

_"Oh? And you'd know?"_

_"I'm his best friend."_

_"No, _Riku_ is his best friend."_

_"We're all best friends, Mena."_

_"Prove it."_

_All eyes fell upon Selphie yet again, queen bee of the hive. She peered at Kairi with a proud smile, slimy with the putrid conceit adolescent girls were so prone to house. _

_"Prove it?" Kairi repeated as if unsure._

_"I bet that he won't kiss you within two weeks."_

_"That's stupid."_

_"After that, it's my turn to accept the bet."_

_Kairi stared, blown away by her friend's stealthy eyes. It was no wonder her own two best friends strove to keep a distance from this member of their gang until the lunch table filled at school. What was Selphie's sudden interest in Sora, anyway? A femininely territorial rage flowered in Kairi's chest, but it was something much more mature—nearly maternal. She would never let a whore like that near Sora; he belonged to better. _

_"Here," Selphie rummaged through her backpack, and then handed Kairi a sheet ripped out of a magazine, most likely CosmoGirl or some other slut-zine, "this might help."_

_"What is it?"_

_"A sex quiz."_

_"Hunh?"_

_"A sex quiz. See, it asks questions like 'Are you a virgin?', 'Do you touch yourself?', 'Do you know what _necking _means?', 'Have you ever played tonsil hockey?' and stuff like that."_

This is horrible_, Kairi wanted to protest, but instead she folded the resilient paper up and slipped it into her bag, glancing away shamefacedly for conceding to the bet. Sora was just too vulnerable—Selphie would fuck up his life for sure, and then Riku would fuck _her_ life up because he was protective like that and ultimately not sexist with what came out of his mouth (Kairi knew this personally), and then Kairi would spread some rumors to help in the action as well. This wasn't a whore game she was playing; it was a high school heroine's struggle for purity._

_"Two weeks. That means the last night I have for the bet is the back-to-school dance?"_

_"Yeah. It's a pretty easy contest if you ask me."_

_"But you're kind of a slut," Kairi replied calmly, blinking innocent eyes at Selphie's infuriated scowl. The other girls snorted in skeptical laughter, but nothing else was exchanged as plaid skirts fluttered and slender legs hurried their separate ways, uniform loafers clacking on linoleum and leather backpacks adorned with immaturities that made it seem as though someone had vomited up sparkles and cutesy-tootsy stickers._

_She got him to take it one day after school, at her house. "Let's hang out," she had said, grabbing his hand and tugging him down the cobblestone before Riku emerged from the high school and captured Sora's attention. "We never hang out anymore," Kairi had insisted softly, and triumphantly tugged his heart in her direction. Giving her a grin, he'd raced her down the road after complying lightheartedly, "You're right. We'll snack at your house or something."_

_They sat in her living room, the windows open to allow in the cool ocean breeze, Kairi kneeling primly on one side of the coffee table and Sora cross-legged on the other, pencil in hand as he leaned forward, propped sloppily on his elbow, gnawing gingerly on his eraser while his wide, innocent eyes took in the contents of the sheet in front of him. She had already scolded him for being a clown and writing his name and the date on the sheet; "I'm not a teacher," she had mumbled, and he had laughed heartily. Little cardboard cartons of paopu juice sat next to a box of cookies on the coffee table, and Kairi's nervous, giggling excuse for the ludicrous snackage was that her mother and father still thought she was twelve. Sora had laughed and agreed, that his mother still wanted him to stay young as well._

_"Do you want me to tell the entire truth?" he peeped after a moment, rather embarrassed and discomfited. Kairi shrugged, her own gaze mimicking the tweaked nerves. One juice was drained and the second half-empty, cookie crumbs scattered in a trail of guilt towards the brunette's side of the table._

_"Well," Sora amended, "I trust you." And he circled the answer to the first question._

_"Which one was that?"_

_"The virgin one."_

_"What's the next one?"_

_He replied as he marked the answer: "If I touch myself."_

_"What'd you put?"_

_"I-I—_Kairi!_ That's private!"_

_"Sorry, sorry!"_

_Sora huffed a breath, and continued with a flustered pout and burning cheeks—it took him twenty minutes to finish off the thirty questions, and at that time he folded the paper so his answers were hidden and shoved the quiz back at her, his pout sharpening childishly. "There!"_

_The next day Kairi clenched the paper in her fingertips, standing outside the school building and waiting for Sora to arrive; this was unfair, she had decided, and she was going to give the quiz back to him so that it would all be right again. The bet was ridiculously wrong and rather immature, a womanly quest for protection of an innocent, naïve soul in the disguise of a boyfriend-snatcher—and if she was going to succeed, she'd do it her way. She'd make a plan of her own; she didn't need any slut's sex quiz, so Sora could keep it for his own purposes. If he had any. He could just throw it away if really wanted to. She hoped she would. Or maybe he'd have a passionate night with a soul mate some day in the future and extract the quiz to share his most intimate confessions with the girl because he trusted her with his entire being. That was romantic. Maybe she'd take her own quiz, too—_

_And that was when a strong zephyr ripped the marked quiz from her fist, taking it down the hill upon it's gusty shoulders. _

_Kairi stood stock-still, frozen with her hand still out and knuckles hooked, her eyes bugging and her glossy lips stretched into an "O" that might have been comical otherwise. She watched, shocked, as the sheet flitted down the hill, disappearing around a bend as her skirt and hair danced in the same rhythm. Unbeknownst to her, the sheet was soon caught against someone's chest, and a hand, garnished with a black wristband, plucked it away..._


	2. Chapter Two

_**Sixteen Candles**_

_**Disclaimers**_**: Kingdom Hearts and the rest of the amazing franchise © Disney and Square Enix; everything else © their rightful owners. **

_**A/N**_**: So, actually, this became a collection of chapters suddenly—I intended for it to be a one-shot, but lately one-shots have been extremely difficult for me to accomplish. -sheepish roll of the eyes.- But this is going to be quick and painless (for some, not necessarily the victims of plot, but you know how it is) and then I'll focus back on what I should be, in the blink of an eye. **

**ATTENTION _NOSTER NOSTRI _READERS: Updates are in progress.**

_**Ratings/Warnings for this chapter**_**: T—profanity**

* * *

"**Turning sixteen isn't easy when you realize that you've fallen in love. It's the time of your life that will last a lifetime."**

* * *

_Sixteen Candles—Chapter Two_

* * *

The worlds were at a balance.

Darkness is in light, light is in darkness, all that philosophical junk about hearts and power and the strength of one—he didn't have to wrack his brains trying to decipher anything any longer. He was placid, back on the islands with Riku and Kairi, back in the normal life of a normal adolescent, days filled with school, people, and activities. "We may never see our parents again" was a phrase that had frightened him before, but he had no reason to fear as every resident of the islands had returned to their rightful bunks. Oh, the islands...how he had missed them. They were immaculately glorious, beautiful and lavish, from the lush growth of the plant life and the call of the sea-birds, to the warm sand with the waves licking at the land's lip and the impeccable skies, the secure warmth of the sun, all enveloping the base of their childhood innocence and dreams. Their play island was still there, still as magnificent as before with every cove and hiding place—though the forest there had gone through many changes, from being a terrifying rain-forest when they were nine-year-old explorers, to a plain forest when they were fourteen, and now an overgrown jungle but somehow still majestic. Even the comfort of the quaint mainland city was the same, each old building speaking it's own story of what it had been through, in the tongue of the dilapidated, poorer part of town or the upper side where new architecture boasted sufficient funds and wealthier families.

It was as though nothing had changed, and Sora relaxed into the stability with a heaving sigh, relief flooding every fiber of his simple-minded being. The past two and a half years had placed an abnormal amount of stress—if that word even summed it all up successfully—upon his shoulders. Save the world, save the girl, sleep for a year, save the world again, save _everyone_ this time, and defeat darkness alongside his lifelong friend, there to back him up and ensure he was not alone, to bring it all back to peace.

Back to a peace interrupted by those strange, foreign sentiments that threaded adrenaline into his every muscle and made him dizzy and short of breath, those emotions that made his heart begin to pound and his thoughts race into every corner of his mind, every image possible, those _things_ that happened to him inside and out when he was around Riku. But those feelings were not entirely alien—they were familiar in a way he couldn't define. The profound, cosmically aligned bond between the two boys had begun over a decade ago on the sandy shores of the main island, a pact made with clasped knuckles and laughter on a summer day before first grade, ice cream melting into a sticky mess lapped up with childish tongues, and the connection had only deepened into abysmal echoes of fate. It grew with every headlock, every joke, every argument, every race, every unspoken sentence exchanged through eyes instead. It grew with the opened door and the first long quest—whose heart was that one to save, anyway? Kairi's, his own, Riku's, all three? It grew unfathomably, lonesomely excruciating because of the distance, with the separation in Castle Oblivion and his nap thereafter, and the seemingly neverending war against the Organization and strength of darkness.

And it was published during the final battle against Xemnas, perfected on the shadowy beaches of a world opposite their own. It was finalized to the point where Sora knew it had always been there and _would_ always be there, just like Riku himself. It was an affection, an adoration, a _love_ so flawless that he couldn't accept it. It floated around in his body, unrestricted, free to terrorize him physically and emotionally because despite it all he still clutched some innocence, some pure naivety that made him oblivious to the truth beyond the physical attraction that agonized him so.

The lost time had been _good_ to Riku. The younger boy had found it troublesome not to stare at his muscles _before_ anything had changed, but holy God when Sora sprang up a few inches and found his skinniness becoming defined, Riku towered further than before, lean and built and peering down from seven delicious centimeters up. It made him feel puny, but oh-so delectable, oh-so swept off his feet. And when those ideas prodded his brain, he freaked out in surprised guilt, not wanting to ruin anything between the two for fear of losing him, this time for good and because of something so stupid as the phobia of boys' love. So the other day he let Kairi hold his hand (a meaningless sensation), and the next he let her play with his hair (it relaxed him; it always did), and a little bit ago he'd let her babble to him about her personal issues, girl-things like crushes, clothes, and other unimportant topics that he didn't hear competently (mostly because his mind was off on similar thoughts of his own), completely unaware that it gave them the classification of Potential Couple to students who had nothing better to do than pointlessly gossip of unnecessary and usually unreal matchmaking. Sora figured it was just what he was supposed to do, his escape from these suffocatingly dangerous thoughts that he had once executed three years ago. He still had the charm that symbolized it all, but at this point it was simply a star that resembled Home and a best friend.

It was comfortable, this safety upon the islands after the peace had been restored throughout the worlds, and sometimes he even forgot the things that happened, living normally with his friends and his feelings and his schoolwork, afternoons of excavations upon their play island or within the city, shy reveries at nighttime in his bed that he kept locked in his heart, indulging in every moment around his argentine-haired best friend and not sure why it sent him into such bliss. He was coy and typical again, and that was fine how it was.

Sora paused outside the closed doorway of his math class; a sign posted beside the plaque read _Geometry: Shape the World. _Lips bitten together in a sick grimace, his heart thundering within his chest, he felt his flesh grow clammy again. What if someone in the school had found the quiz? What if they'd already spread it around school? What if someone in the school had found it and that someone happened to be in _his_ math class, or someone found it and told someone else and _that _someone who'd heard about it was in his math class, or—

_Why _in _hell _did he write his name on that motherfucking quiz?

Swallowing, Sora cautiously opened the door, leaning in a few steps to find the gaze of his teacher. A chaste, sharp fear made his stomach sink as his childish mind fabricated an even more maddening scene—what if someone in the school had found the quiz, spread it around, and his _teacher_ had found out about it?

If she had, she didn't show it. She met the tardy boy's deer-in-headlight stare with risen brows and her marker in hand; offering him her usually mousy smile, always amused when turned upon him, the Geometry teacher Mrs. Coskun inquired, "Pass?"

"No."

"_Sora_," she sighed in disappointed exasperation. "Again?"

"Sorry," the brunette grinned sheepishly, closing the door and slipping to his assigned desk. Beside him, his classmate held his own textbook out in explanation and the woman near the front of the room turned to the desk to mark his demerit.

"Page ninety-four."

"Thanks," Sora murmured, tugging the text from his own bag and letting it drop to the surface in front of him. Slumping down, toes of his shoes scuffed on the desk's metal legs, the brunette dropped his cheek to his knuckles and flipped to the directed page number. Being a sophomore sucked. He hated Geometry and it showed in his grade of a D; he liked Algebra much more, and wished he could just be a junior already so he could be in Algebra 2 like Riku...

The worlds were at a balance, and placid normalcy ensued.

NOT ANY MORE.

* * *

_...and peered at it curiously, sea-green optics flicking up and down along the printed and handwritten words. Finally realizing what it was, a jaw fell gently slack and an incredulous chuckle passed on the wind; adroit fingers carefully folding up the slick sheet of paper, the same black-banded hand shoved the paper of interest into his back pocket, and he turned the corner and started up the hill to school._

* * *

Riku had an energy drink in his fingertips, the condensation trickling down onto his knuckles. Why he was drinking it as the sun went down, Sora wasn't sure, but it had been his recent choice when Sora in turn bought a soda pop at the convenience store near the docks, and upon the play island they leaned on the curved trunk of their proverbial paopu tree silently sipping their designated drinks and watching the twilight. It cast a warm glow on the little island of memories, heating the land even in it's descent; Sora chanced a glimpse beneath his lashes to his left where Riku stood with arms crossed and shoulders propped on the smooth bark, can of caffeine dangling from his slim, adroit fingertips. The brunette's ankles were hooked, tennis-shoed heels digging into the sand and frame otherwise supported by the constant stability of the tree. The respectful hush was somewhat suffocating—or was it because he wanted to step over and lean against Riku's sculpted arm but was too afraid to? There was no excuse for it now; he was no longer eleven years old. Though the white sleeves of the uniform shirt, rolled up after the release of school for the day, were tight on the biceps in use, and it looked so comfortable, so inviting—

"Oh, shit," Riku suddenly choked out mid-sip. Licking his lips, he straightened up, casting a disappointed gaze down to Sora's inquisitive one. In response to the brunette's perked brow, he motioned idly to the right, and when Sora followed the gesture he peered over the side of their favorite bluff to watch as Kairi trotted girlishly along the beach path, soon twisting his head to the left to watch past his shoulder as the girl hurried daintily over the bridge in their direction.

Blue eyes flickered up to examine Riku's reaction; he was frowning softly, lashes lowered, watching the water, but at Sora's quick, worried glance, he side-glimpsed in return and curled up into a split-second smile, shoulders rolling in a shrug of apologetic inability. It was always the same: the two of them and then Kairi, Riku losing his openness and genuine affability as soon as she arrived and Sora gaining it to ensure the girl didn't feel left out. Neither viewed her as an outsider, but things were oddly uncouth when she arrived, easily shattered from one temperance to the other.

"Hey, you guys!" Kairi panted, throwing her arms over the sloping trunk and hoisting herself up to sit between their shoulders. It was quite the effort, actually inciting fervent snickers from Riku, shaking his head after she hooked a leg on the tree, wrestled herself up, and finally tossed the other leg over—all in her little skirt, her purse victoriously battering her upper thigh. Sheepishly, Sora laughed in turn, offering her a sip of his Coke. She obliged, drawing some pop from the straw in a delicately princess-like fashion, her default disposition of fragile femininity that was often, when around her two closest friends, relaxed into klutzy tomboyishness; the brunette boy absently used the hem of his shirt to remove the lip gloss from the edge of it before taking his own sip.

A silence fell, two boys staring in opposite directions and a girl gaping straightforward with ankles crossed, the breeze dusting deliciously along three equally relieved bodies and creating a background music in the way it drifted through the resilient leaves of the palm trees and other foliage.

"Riku," Kairi suddenly chirped. "What are you doing for the dance?"

"I'm going alone," Riku dismissed curtly without looking at her. Sora's brows furrowed and he shifted his gaze hastily to Kairi; the girl peered back at him with a pinched frown, and then both pairs of optics drifted back to the tallest of the trio. Heart racing in an excitement Sora didn't know the origin of, he opened his mouth to comment, but the mahogany-haired girl beat him to the punch.

"Sora, go with me!" she cried, almost desperately, the bet with Selphie resonating in her mind. She leaned forward, swinging her legs innocently, turning on the charm and the puppy-dog eyes and hoping to God that Sora wasn't too oblivious to notice it.

"Ah," he sighed out in surprise, brows furrowing further. His heart was too munificent; he couldn't deny her for the feelings he couldn't even decipher. Finally, he swallowed on a constricted throat and grudgingly murmured, "Okay."

Riku tossed back the last of his energy drink and dropped the can to the dirt, pivoting roughly. Sand kicked up by his heels, he shoved his hands into his pockets and spat, "What a fucking _girl_." as he strutted around the base of the tree, striding across the bridge with set shoulders and keen steps.

"Ugh, _Riku_," Sora called after him in agitated chastisement, stooping down and picking up his litter before turning and watching over the trunk of the tree as the silver-haired boy hopped down to the ground beside the little shack, trudging along the sand. Kairi slumped, frowning culpably at the forsaken look on Sora's visage, his parted lips and big blue eyes clouded with confusion, innocently forlorn and distraught.

And that's when she figured out why she'd always known he wasn't into her that way.


	3. Chapter Three

_**Sixteen Candles**_

_**Disclaimers**_**: Kingdom Hearts and the rest of the amazing franchise © Disney and Square Enix; everything else © their rightful owners. **

_**A/N**_**: Keeping these chapters short and sweet. And unfortunately... -sheepish grin.- ...I got incredibly distracted last night by playing ****_stupid_ games to solve boredom on the internet with my girlfriend and her sister. **

**Holy. Shit.**

**I have never laughed so hard in my life.**

**ATTENTION _NOSTER NOSTRI _READERS: Keep biding your time until those updates. They'll arrive, I promise.**

_**Ratings/Warnings for this chapter**_**: T—profanity**

* * *

"**Turning sixteen isn't easy when you realize that you've fallen in love. It's the time of your life that will last a lifetime."**

* * *

_Sixteen Candles—Chapter Three_

* * *

The days in succession progressed with an ominous leer and awkward anxiety, because ever since Sora had freaked out about the dance in advent, Riku had been acting really strange.

Tuesday greeted all with the hysteria of a notoriously dragging day, and Sora spent the majority of it paranoid of someone approaching him in maniacal stitches regarding the sex quiz located somewhere in the city. Fleetingly, he considered teaming up with Kairi to play detectives and find out where the traitorous paper had disappeared to, but each time he chickened out and assured himself it was most likely in a gutter somewhere; thereafter he would fall into spastic fears that a homeless man might find it, and God knew what a _hobo _would do with a tenth grade virgin's sex quiz.

At lunch, he sat across from Riku as always, but the junior was in one of his bad moods, his aquamarine irises resembling the stormy wake of a typhoon, set in a brusque, permanent glare that flashed dangerously. Deciding that the best he could do was ignore it completely, Sora silently apologized with his eyes and then turned away from that opalescent, irascible visage for the rest of the day, instead striking up a conversation on blitzball with an eagerly avid Tidus, swapping sandwiches with him and sharing a carton of chocolate milk. The brunette had learned to give inaudible "I'm sorry"s because Riku would never speak a word of why he was tetchy; only thrice had Sora actually wrestled the words out of Riku and that had been quite the physical struggle. Despite that, he had a knack for knowing exactly what it was, so before long he had given up on trying to drag an explanation out; he'd assume the blame and all would eventually be fine again. Telepathy of corresponding souls, perhaps.

Kairi wasn't a real nuisance, either; she busied herself in her own uneasy schemes of winning a petty bet, thinking up ways to make it merely _look _as though a kiss happened on the night of the dance because she could not bring herself to manipulate the stupid brunette into a real one—she'd never forgive herself—thus keeping her own integrity and Sora's chastity, and both reputations might well flourish for all they knew. Oh, the jungle that high school was.

And regardless of Sora's latent attempts to irritate an explanation out of him by the path of total lack of attention, Riku remained in his own maelstrom of thoughts, rather petulant the rest of the day, and when the oldest of the trio departed for home directly after school, Kairi and Sora both suggested they trash any plans of hanging out and just head home. Both agreed this was the best route for the remainder of the afternoon, and waved to each other as they went their separate ways, the girl with the mahogany tresses and pink barettes trotting off towards the northern side of the city and the brunette with the uniform shirt unbuttoned a few inches, tie loose about his neck, strutting into the east.

Wednesday brought those weird feelings slamming upon him again, smothering him into self-conscious nervosity, when Riku's knee brushed his below the lunch table and he quickly looked to him, rather shocked and rather sheepish. But Riku was rapt in an argument with Wakka over the benefits of energy drinks versus the benefits of protein shakes. The movement had obviously been accidental if Riku didn't seem to notice, yet the brunette's theory was disproved while Kairi brought up the topic of shopping for outfits for the dance, and what was Sora thinking of wearing because they needed to match? His lips parted and he prepared to respond that he hadn't planned anything too dramatic, when a subtle knee inched its way between his lower thighs. Instead of emitting his voice, his jaw fell open and he flicked a startled, flustered glance to Riku's visage. The look of utter territorial defense glinting in his irises as he juggled conversations—one verbal with Wakka and the other inaudible and almost psychic thoughts shot across the table to the brunette's wide, azure optics—expertly caused shivers to strike Sora nearly paralytic.

So it was Riku's fault he felt this way! He sent him mixed signals like he always had for years, and that didn't help Sora's lovestruck condition in the least—or was that Riku's plan in the first place? Well, he _was _a perversely protective boy...

_No, no, no, stop thinking these things! That's just how Riku is, that doesn't mean he wants to kiss you!...Kiss? _KISS_? When have I been thinking about _KISSING RIKU—_?_

Sora gawked, lips parted and eyes dazed, at the talking lips upon Riku's face, pale, barely pink flesh and beautifully crafted, the words emitting not even heard in the fog of attraction. They looked so soft and warm; did they taste good, too? Hypnotized by his thoughts, the brunette slouched down, and craned a few inches over the tabletop, propping his elbows near his tray of untouched cafeteria food. His head slowly tilted to the side as he eased forward, lashes lowering on heated blue eyes, tongue dusting out along his own lip as if he could imagine the aftertaste of a kiss—

"—idiot?"

"_Hunh_?" Sora cried, freezing on his imagined journey, his optics bulging and cheeks flushing a hot, fierce pink. He was completely unaware of who had even spoken; it could have been anyone at the table. Great, stupid, look what you've gotten yourself into now—"W-what?"

"I said, do you want something, you stupid idiot?"

Of course it had been Riku speaking. Who else reserved "stupid idiot" for his pet name? Ah—nick name? Souring into a dark pout, Sora hastily leaned back and hung his head, glowering ferociously over the table at the silver-haired boy through layered sandy-brown shocks of hair that fell about his temple. Knuckles twitching anxiously as he clutched the bench he sat upon, he hunched slightly, eyeing the boy across him as his pout melted into a threatening frown. Laughter at him ensued from the buddies who surrounded them, but it dissipated faster than usual, leaving the conversation between the two close friends open to only them, shared between heavy stares rather than vocal sounds.

Riku peered at him through his lashes, cafeteria fork in hand and the prongs of such assaulting his salad, a petty attempt at health food by the school system. He stared at the brunette with hooded optics that told him just how intended that wedged knee had been, and the sly smile quirking at the edge of his amazing lips was telling him now just how vulnerable he was—and then Riku's outright warm smile exposed the fact that he knew everything, particularly the way into the other boy's heart. It was a stealthy confession, but somehow it was not as sultry as it was romantic.

Sora hung his head further, hiding his panicked eyes and burning cheeks, and finally he snatched up his bag and retreated from the lunch table, leaving his tray of food for his friend Tidus the Vulture to tear into even though his stomach growled in protest—though at the moment, he felt too sick on perplexed adrenaline, heart thundering, to finish eating, and he hurried down the hall to loiter in the bathrooms near his math class and prevent another tardy. The back of his neck was on fire until he turned the corner and was out of sigh of the mess hall, as if the stare obviously following him could actually heat his flesh.

Riku was playing _games_ with him. _Games_. Games that were so normal that Sora hadn't even realized until now that they were fucking _games_. But if Riku was playing games, that meant he was aware of the way Sora felt...and if he was playing games _because_ of the way Sora felt, did that mean Riku felt the same way?

God, how fucking _confusing_!

Saving the worlds was easier than going through high school—at least then he could distract his innocent heart from it's longing.

Frantically, the hormonal boy under Cupid's fateful charm splashed his face with water from the bathroom sink, hoping it would cool his furious blushing and clear his head just a bit.

* * *

Thursday afternoon, Kairi kidnapped her two best friends and forced them into the lone Destiny Islands formal-wear shop beneath an ancient palm tree, fronds fluttering in welcome; the dance influenced a big rise in sales and the old man who ran the little business was weary but entirely delighted when the chimes on the door announced their entrance. Sitting behind an aged wooden desk, a little gray stereo near the cash register playing a softly fuzzy oldies station, the man offered them a bright smile, crow's feet branching tenderly from the corners of his obsidian optics and his leathery flesh dimpled with his grin.

"Good morning, good morning!"

Bracelets jangled as a delicate hand waved fervently. "It's afternoon."

"Oh! Good afternoon, good afternoon!"

Kairi giggled her own greeting of "Good afternoon, good afternoon." as the old man stood up, laughing heartily at his own blunder. The two boys lingering awkwardly before the threshold exchanged glances of mutual incredulity, though a pair of deep blue eyes was more embarrassed than the sea-green irises that radiated absolute disinterest.

"You're shopping for the dance, correct?"

"Yes, we are."

Riku shifted his weight to the opposite foot, crossing his arms and tossing his gaze absently to the side, inspecting the racks of suits and gowns. They were actually in quite good condition, pressed and crisp, newly tailored and ready to be worn; the garments weren't old-fashioned, either, contemporary enough to vouch for the high sales. Sora fidgeted, slipping idly to the side and murmuring below his breath, "Should we just let Kairi handle it?"

"Yup."

The brunette blinked, glancing up at the source of the curt answer through his lashes as he pursed his lips together into a gentle line. Riku flicked a nonchalant glimpse towards him in return, rolling his shoulders in a limp shrug. Sora tensed, brows furrowing as he gawked up at him, and his stomach knotted as he felt a sudden hunch that Riku was hiding something. Wanting to ask but not sure if he should or not, the hands shoved within the pockets of his uniform slacks fumbled nervously as he looked away from the intense aquamarine optics burning through that curtain of silvery hair, strands of which seemed so soft and sweet-smelling, that he longed to twirl on his digits—

"Okay, you guys," Kairi sing-songed, twirling around on her heel and splaying her pink-nailed fingers together in emphasis of her excitement. "Let's get shopping!" The girl paused, her happiness dying away into a girly pout as she slumped, eyeing the two boys darkly: Riku stood complacently with his arms crossed and wisps of hair getting in the way of his exasperated frown, and Sora hunched beside him with an expression similar to the older boy's but of his own capacity of moodiness, a lower strength than the other's. Kairi's pout deepened and she hissed, "You two weren't even listening to us, were you?"

"I just want to get this over with," Riku mumbled, petulant orbs flickering off to peer elsewhere interesting. The old man chuckled amiably, clasping his weathered hands together.

"Will you be needing my help, or can you find what you need?"

"We can find what we need, but thank you anyway," Kairi chirped, and her hand shot out, excessive bands and beads clinking together as she snatched up Sora's fingertips, clutching them in her own and tugging him in the direction she pivoted. "Come on, you guys!"

The brunette grunted, eyes widening gently, his former gloomy frown evaporating into a grimace of surprise; looking quickly over his shoulder as he was dragged after the mahogany-haired girl, his brows furrowed in yet another silent apology at the splenetic scowl sharpening Riku's visage. The taller boy jerked his sculpted shoulders in another rough shrug, shoved his hands into his pockets, and trudged after them, the shop owner retreating behind his desk and humming to himself at the happiness circulating within today's youth. It reminded him of old times.

Kairi's jubilant beaming faded into a faint smile, her lashes lowering on poignant optics as she halted in front of a dress rack. She paused, her hand lingering within Sora's soft knuckles, before she drew it away harshly, her own skin still tingling from the heat of his boyish paw. The brunette stood as if in a daze, gaping at the dresses like he had never before laid eyes on something so feminine and elegant. Riku remained behind him, silenced; Kairi peeked over her shoulder at him, sensing the discomfiture of both, and Sora tilted his head in ignorance as to the sudden message passed over his head between his two friends' eyes.

"Sora," Riku addressed him abruptly, pulling him backwards by the shoulders, "Kairi's going to pick some dresses. I'm going to pick some tuxes. We're going to...ah...'model' them or what the fuck ever."

"For you!" Kairi added hastily at the sight of Sora's blanched, appalled stare of perplexity. Lord, was he dense sometimes. "So you can tell us which one looks best. And then we'll help you find a suit of your own."

"Yeah," the oldest of the three acquiesced in rather plain discomposure and agitation. "So don't lie just to make us happy."

So there Sora sat, on the cushion bench amongst the clothing racks, elbows on his knees and his wide blue eyes locked immediately upon the first to emerge from the dressing rooms. It had taken five minutes for Riku to discern one certain tuxedo suit from the entire store as the one he preferred, and the two boys had sat where he now remained lonesomely while Kairi spent another ten minutes hunting for the "perfect dress" (though in that quest she found four possible candidates for "perfect dress", as well as numerous pairs of shoes to match each and a few pieces of jewelry, as if she hadn't enough at home). Now they were both hidden behind the curtains, Kairi within the womens' side and Riku in the mens'.

And, as he'd expected, Riku was the first to step out.

And holy _shit_, it made him _squirm_.

He stood there in the open space, guarded by a few full-length mirrors, with his right hand in the pocket of the pants he'd tugged on; his visage was ducked gently, lashes lowered on eyes that strove to be stony but were only more revealing than ever, bleeding out desperation for approval or negativity. Lifting his free hand, Riku threaded his fingers through the light silver locks that fell into his face, removing them from his temple momentarily as he glanced awkwardly towards the mirror at his left.

"Wow," he grunted, softly, "I'm glad I chose this one. I like it."

"Yeah..." Sora agreed stupidly, his stunned blue eyes bulging wide and his lips parted, head cocked to the side just a bit. He'd straightened up, observing his friend up and down, and with the sound of Kairi noisily dressing herself behind a separate curtain, the sight sent him defenselessly spiraling into an ocean of abysmal sentiments, thoughts and feelings engulfing him like the weedy claws of weak darkness he so victoriously fought off. Once again Riku had him captivated, but he was not holding his hand out to Sora in invitation at this point. His palm was outstretched to show the brunette the length of the sleeve—milky-smooth wrist exposed and sending shivers zipping through Sora's body—the sleeve that attached to a light, loosely-fitting jacket, draped on his broad shoulders and revealing an unbuttoned dress shirt the silver-haired teen had donned over the tank top he wore beneath his uniform. He did not have a belt, but it didn't seem that he needed one; the waistband of the slacks fit nicely at his hips, not sagging as sloppily as his other pairs of pants but not clinging to his form drastically. Sora's eyes bobbed up and down the tux, the price tag poking out rather rudely near Riku's chest but easily forgotten, until he finally swallowed on his dry throat, managing an unsteady, "I like the color."

"...Me, too," Riku grumbled, raising his brows as he adjusted the jacket on his shoulders and torso. "It's not too dark but not too light."

"Like gray."

"Yeah."

"But not a bad gray."

"No."

"Smoky gray. It's h—"

"Riku, you look so good!" Kairi squealed as she skittered out of the womens' dressing room, the two pairs of shoes she couldn't decide between dangling from her knuckles. Sora slouched with a heaved sigh of relief, breathing harshly in his panic, grateful that Kairi had saved him before he _stupidly_ blurted out _It's hot._ What a_ dumbass_! "That's a good color on you."

"I like the way it fits," the silver-haired boy murmured quietly, frowning in a troubled way that Sora could tell was merely the result of nervosity. Swallowing again, the brunette leaned back on his palms and once more viewed him up and down, indulging in the way that he looked in the formal-wear, how it accentuated the slimness of his frame while smoothly hiding the presence of his muscles; Riku turned, blatantly ignoring the stares he could so clearly feel, busying himself in the mirror as if he was vehemently concerned with his reflection.

And then Sora's gaze felt heavy, weighing itself down, sinking lower until he was gaping wide-eyed at the way the tux slacks complimented his adoration's butt. It wasn't the first time he'd found himself examining Riku's body, but this new fashion was just so mature, eloquent, new and different, and..._sexy_. Heart racing, stomach pinching up, his skin prickling with clammy chills even as his face burned feverishly, he just couldn't explain these deep-rooted emotions, and Sora ripped his gaze away to inspect Kairi's choice—and prevent his body from going crazy with the infinite passion blazing within his clenched chest and creeping ever further into his lower abdomen and upper thighs. Peering at her as she shuffled over to him, noticing that Riku was rather caught up in his own thoughts again, his gut knotted in frustration. Why couldn't he go with Riku to the dance? _Not _as a couple, because he would never be able to figure out _that _circus by tomorrow night, but as friends?

Oh, wow, Kairi looked nice. _That's it_, his mind hissed at him, _if you don't think about him, maybe you'll calm down_.

_Ugh, but he's thinking about _me_! I know he is!_

"Which shoes?" Kairi asked suddenly, reclaiming his attention, standing up straight and cocking her hip to the side to emphasize the gown; forcing himself to examine her chosen formal-wear as well, insisting internally that the distraction of mixing and matching was all he needed, he flicked his gaze up and down her slender body, peering at the light blue dress she'd slipped on, the straps tied behind her neck and the intricate designs at the end of the bodice that trailed down the sides to the lower hem, dusting her bare ankles. Absently, he noticed her toenails matched the color of her fingernails. She really did look very beautiful, like a goddess. Never before had he imagined she'd grow up so quickly—how_ different_ she was from the Kairi in the days of their play-pretend. The notion of growing up frightened him, reminding him caustically that his birthday was an evening away. "Which shoes would go with this dress?"

"Uh..." Sora leaned forward again, lifting a hand and jabbing a finger at the delicate pair in her left fist. Licking his dry lips lightly, he chanced a split-second peek over the girl's shoulder to the boy amidst the mirrors, and he almost gasped when his glance locked on with Riku's silent stare. Yearning, angry, guilty were his gorgeously intense irises, and he didn't try to hide it. "...Those," Sora trailed off, yanking his attention painfully back up to Kairi's smile. Fleetingly, he caught a whiff of her perfume, and he plastered up a grin in return to her elated visage, feeling agonizingly obliged to murmur, "You smell good."

Kairi's smile soured temporarily into skepticism, before her brow creased into another smile, pensive this time. "I do? Thank you, Sora," she whispered coyly.

Tension snapped through the air.

"Well," she cried, changing the topic to avoid a typical bad mood.

"Well," Sora repeated anxiously, leaning away.

"Well," Riku joined up, crossing his arms on the stiff cloth of the tuxedo jacket.

"How does this dress look on me?" Kairi spun about, holding the shoes as though they were treasures beyond her imagination. The gown fluttered around her slim body, but neither boy was looking at her. Seraphic, chaste blue eyes were mesmerized by profound sea-green optics helpless to look away. Fingers fumbled a price tag, and Kairi's delighted giggles rose to the ceiling as the stereo on the check-out desk emitted soothing tunes. Something unspeakable passed on the air, easing the tension with it's undeniable truth. Conversing with the eyes was a gift.

Sora curled up into a soft smile, lashes lowering as he turned his face away, and Riku retreated into the dressing room to hide his own heartfelt quirk of the lips.

They departed twenty minutes later, Kairi on cloud nine with her dreams of majestic, princess-like romantic things, and two boys lost in mutual thoughts trailing off behind the ambitious girl as the sun sank lower towards the horizon of ocean and sky.

It all seemed to Sora as though his fears about pathetic things like lost sex quizzes or ruined reputations and friendships were petty, and there was a balance returning again.

Or perhaps that was Cupid's fateful charm once more.


End file.
